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**International News**
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- "MSF           Calls for Worldwide Adoption of Anti-AIDS Drugs"  

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**Medical News**
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- "Coinfection           Does Not Appear To Augment TB Infectivity" 

**Local         and Community News**

- "Sheriff           OKs Condoms for Gay Inmates"
- "District           Convenes Meeting On AIDS"    

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**Editorials and Commentary**
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- "No           Letting Up on AIDS"  

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**News Briefs**
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- "Young           Activist's Mother Will Speak at World AIDS Day Fund- Raiser" 
- "London           Britches Falling Down, Sex Survey Finds" 
- "Health           Board Clears Way for Needle Exchange"
- "Middle-age           Sex 'Unsafe'"
- "South           African Demo Against Child Rape"
- "New           HIV Infection Warning"  

**"War on         Terror Diverts Attention from War on AIDS, but Long-Term Optimism Persists"**topAssociated         Press (11.29.01) David Crary 

 The Sept. 11 attacks and the ensuing war on terrorism have diverted         attention and resources from another global battle, the campaign against         AIDS, just as its front-line combatants were savoring a rare stretch of         good news. Since the attacks, donations to the UN Global Fund to Fight         AIDS have slowed sharply. The US government, a crucial source of support,         has dismayed AIDS activists with a contribution far below their expectations.         And yet, despite the distractions of war in Afghanistan and an economic         slowdown, there is long-term optimism on the eve of Saturday's World AIDS         Day events.

 Advocacy groups hope the United States will emerge from the current         turmoil with a broader international outlook, more eager than ever to         work alongside poorer nations against pandemics such as AIDS. "The Bush         administration, I hope, will reach the point where they want to show the         world they're not so obsessed with Afghanistan and terrorism that everything         else falls off the table," said Stephen Lewis, the UN special envoy for         AIDS in Africa. "AIDS, alas, is the perfect vehicle for that," he said.         Congress is on pace to contribute about $200 million for the current fiscal         year, though some members are seeking a much larger appropriation -up         to $1.2 billion. Sens. Bill Frist (R- Tenn.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.)         agreed this month to head a new task force seeking to boost America's         role in the global fight against AIDS. 

"The events of Sept. 11 may have temporarily shifted our legislative         focus, but our resolve to stop the death toll for HIV/AIDS remains a top         priority," Frist said. "The global AIDS epidemic has become our greatest         humanitarian crisis." Some activists are skeptical, however. "The United         States has spent more time and money bailing out the airline industry         than investing in life-extending medications for Africa," said Asia Russell         of ACT UP Philadelphia. Activists hope World AIDS Day will refocus attention         on their campaign. 

**"HIV Testing Among Racial/Ethnic Minorities -United States, 1999"**topMorbidity         & Mortality Weekly Report (11.30.01) (50(47);1054-8) 
 The percentage         of Americans who report being tested for HIV has increased significantly         over the past decade, but a considerable number of at-risk individuals         have never been tested.

 According         to results from the most recent National Health Interview Survey, 31 percent         of survey respondents reported HIV testing, up from 5 percent in 1987         and 26 percent in 1995. Of the subset of respondents at high risk for         HIV infection (nearly 2 percent), over 70 percent reported having been         tested, pointing to the success of targeted prevention and testing programs.         This higher rate of testing among at-risk populations was found among         all racial and ethnic groups. 

However,         study authors stress the critical need to reach the remaining 27 percent         of at-risk individuals who have not been tested. The level of testing         and reported motivations for testing varied by race and ethnicity, underscoring         the need for carefully targeted strategies to encourage testing. Increasing         the proportion of infected and at-risk individuals who know their HIV         status is a primary focus of CDC's national strategy to cut the number         of new infections in half by 2005. 

**"2 AIDS Activists Accused of Stalking"**topLos         Angeles Times (11.29.01) Charles Ornstein 
 On Wednesday,         San Francisco Police arrested Michael Petrelis and ACT UP San Francisco         spokesperson David Pasquarelli on charges of criminal conspiracy, stalking,         and making terroristic threats. They are accused of calling reporters         and public health officials at home repeatedly past midnight, making threats         and leaving obscene sexual messages. Together, they are charged with 27         felonies and misdemeanors and are being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.         
Both men         have acknowledged making or encouraging late-night calls, sometimes using         foul language, but have denied making threats. They cite the need for         a "new phase of activism" to combat what they call false public health         studies and biased news articles that have scared the gay community and         discouraged gay sex. Petrelis has acknowledged publicizing the home phone         numbers of top officials at the CDC. "The gay community has been under         a microscope by health officials for almost two decades now and the level         of hysteria is out of control," Pasquarelli said in an interview Tuesday.         
ACT UP San         Francisco, a breakaway group not affiliated with the national ACT UP,         believes AIDS is caused by side effects of HIV treatments, rather than         by HIV itself. Petrelis is not a member of ACT UP San Francisco and disagrees         with those views but shares its belief that federal AIDS funds are being         misspent on frightening, sexually graphic prevention efforts. 
San Francisco         Chronicle staff members obtained a restraining order against the two activists         earlier this month. Separate orders were served Wednesday covering Dr.         Jeffrey Klausner, director of STD prevention and control in San Francisco;         Eileen Shields, spokesperson for the health department; and Michael Shriver,         AIDS advisor to Mayor Willie Brown.
 The wave         of phone calls and restraining orders began after San Francisco launched         a syphilis awareness campaign last month, citing a significant increase         in the number of cases among gay and bisexual men. Klausner immediately         began receiving threatening phone calls at home from callers who asked         his wife and nanny if they had syphilis, according to court papers. The         criticism of Klausner intensified after publication of this month's Washington         Monthly magazine, which quotes him discussing the possibility of quarantining         AIDS patients who refuse to practice safe sex and have infected 20 or         more people. 
**"MSF Calls for Worldwide Adoption of Anti-AIDS Drugs"**topAgence         France Presse (11.28.01) 
 The French         medical volunteers, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF -Doctors Without Borders)         on Wednesday called on governments worldwide to provide treatment with         antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to fight AIDS. 
"Since prices         of ARV drugs have fallen, and will continue to fall as a result of public         pressure and generic competition, there is now no excuse not to start         ARV treatment wherever possible," said Bernard Pecoul, MSF director of         generic treatments, in a statement.
 Pecoul stressed         that governments from developing countries must show leadership, and donor         countries must give the financial support to set up drug treatment initiatives.         "The first ARV treatment trials have been very encouraging: although the         treatment is no miracle cure, it prolongs and improves patients' quality         of life," MSF said.
 In Brazil,         where very effective anti-AIDS programs are in place, ARV has produced         a $472 million saving for the government because fewer AIDS patients needed         hospitalization or treatment for related diseases, MSF said. "We've seen         the quality of our patients' lives improve drastically. Thanks to the         treatment, they suffer from fewer opportunistic infections and can return         to work and take care of their families again," said the MSF coordinator         of projects in Guatemala Belen Pedrique. 

**"Coinfection Does Not Appear To Augment TB Infectivity"**top TB         & Outbreaks Week (11.20.01) Michael Greer 
         TB from patients coinfected with HIV is not usually more infective than         TB from HIV-negative patients, according to researchers in Italy. Mario         Cruciani and colleagues at the Center for Preventive Medicine-HIV Screening         Center in Verona and the University of Genoa's Institute of Infectious         Diseases conducted a retrospective study to determine "if the relative         infectiousness of patients with tuberculosis is enhanced by coinfection         with HIV."
 Researchers         found no evidence that exposure to HIV patients with drug-sensitive TB         was more dangerous than exposure to otherwise healthy TB patients. Cruciani         and coworkers reviewed the results of two sets of studies. Data from the         first set, comprising six studies of more than 1,200 TB-exposed health         care workers, showed that the rate of positive tuberculin skin tests was         virtually identical between workers exposed to HIV-positive or HIV-negative         patients, according to their report. 
Similar conclusions         were drawn after examining the second group of 11 studies, which included         data from more than 10,000 workers who contacted TB patients at home.         In fact, researchers found that skin test positivity was actually less         prevalent among health care workers in the cohort who contacted HIV-positive         TB patients. "These data suggest that tuberculosis patients with HIV infection         are not intrinsically more infectious to their contacts than are HIV negative         tuberculosis patients," Cruciani and coauthors concluded. The full report,         "Impact of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 on Infectiousness of Tuberculosis:         A Meta Analysis," is published in *Clinical Infectious Diseases*,         December 2001;33(11):1922-1930. 

**"Sheriff OKs Condoms for Gay Inmates"**topLos         Angeles Times (11.30.01) Beth Shuster 
 The Los         Angeles County Sheriff's Department has quietly begun distributing condoms         to gay inmates at its downtown jail, joining just six other jails and         prisons in the country in an effort to stop the spread of AIDS and other         STDs.

 Under California         law, sex in jails and prisons is considered a felony. Sheriff's officials         insist, however, that they are not allowing inmates to have sex in jails         and that they will investigate any inmates caught in the act. But, officials         say, they are concerned also about the health implications of doing nothing.

"This is         a health issue," said Chief Taylor Moorehead, who oversees the county         jails and made the decision to allow condom distribution. "I did it only         for health reasons. It's a sign of the times� and a reality-based response         from me that says I acknowledge the fact that fatal disease is spread         in this fashion," he said.

 The Sheriff's         Department, which runs the largest jail system in the country, spends         $180,000 a month on AIDS medications to treat 220 inmates. Officials say         they are identifying 500 inmates per month who are HIV-positive. And county         health officials found 100 new HIV cases -nearly 14 percent of the 723         screenings given to men over 10 months this year -in the gay section of         the jail. They also found 27 cases of chlamydia, 16 cases of gonorrhea         and several cases of early syphilis in the unit. 

Four other         jails -in New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.         -and two prisons -in Vermont and Mississippi -offer condoms to inmates.         Several require inmates to attend AIDS educational meetings as well. 

Anne De Groot,         who heads the HIV Prison Project at Brown University, said one in three         hepatitis C cases occurs in people who spent time in prisons and jails.         She praised the Sheriff's Department, but like others, suggested it could         go even further. "Those who are identified as gay or who self-identify         are not the only ones having sex," she said. But department officials         said they have no plans to expand the program to the general jail population.         

**"District Convenes Meeting On AIDS"**topWashington         Post (11.30.01) Andrew DeMillo 
 Washington,         D.C., launched a three-day HIV/AIDS conference on Thursday in an attempt         by health officials to reach out to the community and to identify groups         under-served in the fight against AIDS. Bringing together health officials,         activists and educators, the conference is meant to provide the public         access to experts and to allow officials and experts to involve the entire         community. More than 59 workshops and discussions are planned. Today's         scheduled speaker is former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders. The conference         is free and open to the public. 
"We felt         that bringing together all these groups would be a good way to take on         this problem," said Ronald E. Lewis, senior deputy director for health         promotion and head of the HIV/AIDS Administration. "We've had people approach         us in the past and tell us that they wanted to talk about what they had         learned over the years." In addition, according to Lewis, the economic         slowdown may have an impact on money available for HIV/AIDS administration         and "we are preparing the community," said Lewis. 
The city         has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the United States, estimated         to be between 15,000 and 18,000 infections. The AIDS case rate for the         District at the end of 2000 was 153 per 100,000 people, compared with         14.4 per 100,000 for the United States. 

**"No Letting Up on AIDS"**topWashington         Post (11.29.01) Kofi Annan          "Every day more than 8,000 people die of AIDS. Every hour almost 600 people         become infected. Every minute a child dies of the virus. Just as life         -and death -goes on after Sept. 11, so must we continue our fight against         the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Before the terrorist attacks two months ago, tremendous         momentum had been achieved in that fight. To lose it now would be to compound         one tragedy with another. 
"New         figures, released in advance of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, show that more         than 40 million people are now living with the virus. The vast majority         of them are in sub-Saharan Africa, where the devastation is so acute that         it has become one of the main obstacles to development. But parts of the         Caribbean and Asia are not far behind, and the pandemic is spreading at         an alarming rate in Eastern Europe. 
"For too         long, global progress in facing up to AIDS was painfully slow, and nowhere         near commensurate with the challenge. But in the past year, for much of         the international community the magnitude of the crisis has finally begun         to sink in. Never, in the two long decades that the world has faced this         growing catastrophe, has there been such a sense of common resolve and         collective possibility. 
"Public opinion         has been mobilized by the media, non- governmental organizations and activists,         by doctors and economists and by people living with the disease. Pharmaceutical         companies have made their AIDS drugs more affordable in poor countries,         and a growing number of corporations have created programs to provide         both prevention and treatment for employees and the wider community. Foundations         are making increasingly imaginative and generous contributions, both financial         and intellectual -in prevention, in reducing mother-to-child transmission,         in the search for a vaccine. 
"In a growing         number of countries, effective prevention campaigns have been launched.         There has been an increasing recognition, among both donors and the most         affected countries, of the link between prevention and treatment. There         has also been a new understanding of the particular toll AIDS is taking         on women -and of the key role they have in fighting the disease. 
"The entire         United Nations family is fully engaged in this fight, working to a common         strategic plan and supporting country, regional and global efforts through         our joint program, UNAIDS. Perhaps most important, a new awareness and         commitment have taken hold among governments -most notably in Africa.         
"Last June         the membership of the United Nations met in a special session of the General         Assembly to devise a comprehensive and coordinated global response to         the AIDS crisis. They adopted a powerful declaration of commitments, calling         for a fundamental shift in our response to HIV/AIDS as a global economic,         social and development challenge of the highest priority. They reaffirmed         the pledge, made by world leaders in their Millennium Declaration, to         halt and begin to reverse the spread of AIDS by 2015. And they set out         a number of further ambitious but realistic time-bound targets and goals.         Among them were commitments to reach, by 2005, an overall target of annual         expenditure on AIDS of $7 billion to $10 billion per year in low- and         middle-income countries; to ensure, by 2005, that a wide range of prevention         programs are available in all countries; and to support the establishment         of a fund to help finance an urgent and expanded response to the epidemic.         
"Only seven         months after I proposed this new international facility to support the         global fight against AIDS and other infectious diseases, pledges to the         fund stand at more than $1.5 billion. The fund cannot be the only channel         of resources for a full-scale global response to AIDS. But what is most         heartening is the range of pledges that have been made: from the world's         wealthiest nations -starting with the founding contribution from the United         States last May -but also from some of its poorest, as well as from foundations,         corporations and private individuals.
"It is clear         that we have the road map, the tools and the knowledge to fight AIDS.         What we must sustain now is the political will. Life after Sept. 11 has         made us all think more deeply about the kind of world we want for our         children. It is the same world we wanted on Sept. 10 -a world in which         a child does not die of AIDS every minute." 
The author         is secretary-general of the United Nations. 

**"Young Activist's Mother Will Speak at World         AIDS Day Fund- Raiser"**topLos         Angeles Times (11.28.01) Pam Noles          Jeanne White, whose son Ryan died of AIDS just a few months before Congress         passed a federal program in his name, will be a featured guest at the         Foothill AIDS Project's World AIDS Day activities Saturday. The memorial         and fund-raiser includes a candlelight vigil, walk and two receptions         and also features entertainer Connie Stevens. For several years, White         ran a foundation in her son's name. Though the foundation no longer exists,         she remains active speaking about the disease and advocating increased         federal funding to combat it. "As far as the AIDS epidemic goes, we have         to start treating it like an epidemic, and not a dirty word," White said.         A celebrity reception for World AIDS Day events was added specifically         to raise money for the project's children's program. 

**"London Britches Falling Down, Sex Survey Finds"**top Seattle         Post-Intelligencer (11.30.01) Associated         Press
 Britons         have more sexual partners, more homosexual encounters and indulge in more         two-timing than they did a decade ago, a survey of British sexual habits         has found. The survey, which gives the clearest picture to date of the         sex lives of Britons, is published this week in the Lancet (December 1,         2001; Vol. 358; No. 9296; P. 1835-1842). On average, people in Britain         have sex as often as they did a decade ago -once a week, the survey said.         Nationwide, the proportion of women reporting homosexual encounters went         from 2 percent in 1990 to 5 percent in 2000, while for men it rose from         4 percent to 6 percent. One in seven men and one in 11 women reported         having overlapping sexual relationships in the last year. That compares         with one in nine men and one in 20 women in 1990. 

**"Health Board Clears Way for Needle Exchange"**topPittsburgh         Post-Gazette (11.28.01) Deborah Mendenhall          The Allegheny County Board of Health on Wednesday declared a state of         public health emergency for HIV and blood borne diseases, paving the way         for a clean needle exchange program for intravenous drug users. The pilot         program will be administered by an agency that has yet to be chosen. This         action will make it easier for that agency to solicit the private funds         it will need to operate. The needle exchange program, which is still in         the planning stage, will be aimed at reducing the spread of AIDS and hepatitis         that can occur when drug users share contaminated needles. 

**"Middle-age Sex 'Unsafe'"**top Mirror         (United Kingdom) (11.24.01) Heather Ramsay          More middle-aged Scots are catching STDs, health experts said last week.         Scottish National Health Service figures revealed the number of men and         women over 35 who get STDs has risen by almost 30 percent in the last         five years. Last year alone, a 10 percent rise brought the number to more         than 4,000. The alarming rise is blamed on more marriage break-ups, leading         to more middle-aged people having casual sex. Dr. Rak Nanwani of Sandyford         sexual health clinic in Glasgow, said, "The safe sex message has been         lost over the last five years. People are definitely having more unsafe         sex." 

**"South African Demo Against Child Rape"**topBBC         News (11.26.01)          Thousands of South African men have demonstrated in Cape Town to protest         a series of rapes of baby girls. The rally follows two reported child         rapes, one of which involved an eight- month-old girl. The demonstration         -led by government ministers and the Archbishop of Cape Town under the         banner "Real Men Don't Rape" -marked the beginning of a 16-day campaign         intended to raise awareness of the problem, which came to prominence following         an alleged gang rape of a nine-month-old girl by six men earlier this         month. Correspondents say that in South Africa having sex with a virgin         is believed to be a cure for HIV/AIDS. 

**"New HIV Infection Warning"**top Evening         Mail (United Kingdom) (11.24.01)          HIV infection is increasing at a faster rate in the heterosexual population         of Birmingham than among gay men, according to new figures. And the number         of women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS has doubled, bringing the total number         of people with HIV in Birmingham to 754. Health officials urged everyone         to guard against the disease and are planning a series of events for World         AIDS Day on Dec. 1 to combat the spread of the virus. Dr. Jonathan Ross,         head of the Whittall Street Clinic for STDs, which is run by Birmingham         Specialist Community Health National Health Service Trust, said, "It really         is a problem for all -men and women from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds."         The total number of people in the West Midlands who have been diagnosed         with HIV infection stands at 1,461. **Send         Us Your Feedback**We'd like to know what you think of the         Prevention News Update.         Please take a minute to send an e-mail with your comments to [email protected].         With your help, we will continue to         improve this service to better meet your information needs. 
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